LisbonWave26 tests tsunami warning system
The LisbonWave26 exercise, organized by the municipality, took place this morning between 10:30 and 12:00, with tests of the sirens by the river Tagus: the sequence of rings was followed by voice messages, in Portuguese and English, to test the routing routes to the meeting points and the readiness of the response.
"Preparation is part of it," said the Mayor of Lisbon (CML) during the exercise in Terreiro do Paço. "Countries that are very successful in these areas, such as Japan, where people are prepared on a daily basis, have exercises like this almost every month so that people can know how to react."
"We're going to have to do more and more of these tests, even to prepare ourselves, to improve," said Carlos Moedas. "We have four tsunami warnings in Lisbon at the moment, we're testing them, precisely so that people can go to safe places."
In addition to the four sirens already installed - in Praça do Império, Ribeira das Naus, Passeio Carlos do Carmo and Doca de Alcântara - CML aims to "have ten sirens in operation" by 2029. The sirens, Carlos Moedas revealed, "will always be along the river: currently up to Alcântara, and the others will be up to Parque das Nações, so that people can hear them quickly" in the event of an alert.
At the same time, Lisbon has updated its municipal emergency plan, with "86 meeting points that we've worked on with the parish councils, so that everyone in their parishes can know where to go in the event of a disaster," said the mayor.
"Immediate information", he stressed, is already possible in the city through AvisoLisboa: to join, all you have to do is send an SMS with the text "AvisosLx" to the number 927 944 000.
Culminating the presentation sessions of the tsunami warning system, organized by the municipality, for "better coordination of all entities in a disaster scenario", today's exercise was attended by hundreds of operatives from all the city's civil protection agents: Municipal Police, Fire Brigade Regiment, Public Security Police, Navy, Parish Councils and Embassies.